SYNCH AND SWIM: The Value of Synchronous Communication Michael Coghlan November 14 th, 2010

What is synchronous/asynchronous communication?  SYNCHRONOUS (real time) eg f2f conversation, telephone calls, chat rooms  ASYNCHRONOUS – some delay between initial communication and the reply eg letters, , forums

COMMUNICATION AXIS Most classroom communications take place here New – have been enabled by technology (only happen online)

Range of Synchronous Tools  Instant messengers: Google Talk, Skype, Yahoo, MSN (text + voice)  Peer to Peer/Collaborative Tools: eg Etherpad (documents), Mind Mapping, Whiteboards, etc  Virtual Classrooms Proprietary: Elluminate, Adobe Connect, etc Free: Wiziq, DimDim, Vyew

Virtual Worlds: Second Life See Second Life in Education

Use of Synchronous Tools – Survey Why are synchronous tools important?  Approx 50/50 split between pedagogical and social/affective reasons  Pedagogy: immediacy of feedback (30%) (results at

Social/Affective Benefits Social, community, and personal engagement  personal engagement/motivation (55%)  community building (29%)  improving the social experience (27%) (results at

Tension: Synch v Asynch Terry Anderson, Toward a Theory of Online Learning: “….the major motivation for enrollment in distance education is not physical access, but rather, temporal freedom to move through a course of studies at a pace of the student’s choice.” Participation in (synchronous events) “almost inevitably places constraints on this independence.” “The demands of a learning-centered context might at times force us to modify prescriptive participation in (synchronous events), even though we might have evidence that such participation will further advance knowledge creation and attention.”

Resolving the tension between asynchronous and synchronous approaches  don’t make synch sessions compulsory; use synch for those who want it  use tools that can record or archive the sessions for later retrieval  don’t use synchronous for whole class instruction  use for meetings, one-on-one, or in small groups  offer informal (social) sessions in synch mode  allow student use of synchronous space  offer office hours sessions at set times

Resolving the tension between asynchronous and synchronous approaches  It’s not all or nothing – use both approaches: Synch for social, spontaneous, decision making Asynch for deliberation, reflection, considered opinion

What kinds of synchronous activities can you use in classrooms? TEACHING  ‘straight lecture’  Guest lecturers  Oral presentations  Group work  One on one (eg pronunciation) OTHER  Office hours  Social: student - student

NEAR SYNCHRONOUS TOOLS

What’s this?

Twitter as a real time search tool? May 2008: “Twitter beats media in reporting China earthquake." An almost real time search tool – Now being used by some as an alternative search tool to Google

TRACKING THE BACK CHANNEL

BACKCHANNEL TOOLS  Direct or instant messaging in web conferencing tools (eg Centra, Elluminate)  Live blogging tools like Cover It LiveCover It Live  Live polling tools like Poll EverywherePoll Everywhere  Micro Messaging tools: Twitter, Yammer Micro Messaging tools: Twitter

Cover It Live

Question  Why do you think it is important to include synchronous tools in online courses?